Best AMP for Avalon Eidolon, ARC, CAT, VAC..?

Gregadd, the bass reproduction capabilities of the Atma-Sphere MA-1 and MA-2 amps is one of their remarkable features. With appropriate speakers, one has the best of solid state bass with the beauty of tubes through the midrange and top.
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The debate between tubes with lush images and the damping factor of solid state is stil alive. I have a friend who is runnig Grand Slams with Lamns (try saying that fast)and he just ordered a Karan 450 because the Lamns weren't able to control the speakers through a really long run of speaker cable.Another friend owned the class D amp of significant merit and thought that any other amp would loss signal in comparison with it.He was shocked when the Karan gave him more info and did it in a more natural way ( mind you the damping factor of this amp is 10,000 and that is approaching what is measurable by today's standards)He not only bought the amp,but also purchased the preamp ( the digital amp he had used room correction in it)and has sound that is excellent.This Karan amp uses technolgy that is new and does things in a super natural way.If you get the chance then check it out!Take care Dennis

I think it is very hard to make any specific recommendations, given different tastes, room setups, completely unpredictable interaction between components, etc. So, at best, we can recommend items for you to try in the hopes of achieving what you desire.

I am a bit surprised that you found the Eidolons to be cool and lean. The various iterations of the Eidolon I've heard, while not particularly lush, seemed to be on the warmer, less analytical side. My own take of the speaker (based on limited exposure) is that they needed a touch more liveliness (something from the OTL camp, perhaps, would help).

Still, if you are looking on the warmer side, I would suggest trying the Hovland solid state amp. I heard the Eidolon (diamond) with a Hovland chain of amplification and it sounded pretty warm and sweet.

VAC PHI 70. They have enough power for 95% of the music anyone would want to listen to.

I have tried all these over the last 7 years:
Levinson 333 (sucks allround)
VT200 (metallic, sucks allround)
VT130 (acceptable only with Auricap mod and KT88)
Classic 120 (acceptable only with extensive mods)
Classic 150 (lacks extreme high and extreme low)
VAC Vintage 100 (Triode mode sounds good but may break up / distort when playing piano @ loud volumes)
Canary 309 (no juice)
and the latest Counterpoint NPM with basic Altavista mod.
(great all round, has bass, but not as transparent as Phi 70)
Nothing, absolutely nothing, comes close to the transparency, mid-high dynamic contrast (note mid-high only), and most of all, musicality, of the PHI70s.
BTW dont bother experimenting with tubes, the stock ones are the best tuned for the PHi 70.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing, comes close to the transparency, mid-high dynamic contrast (note mid-high only), and most of all, musicality, of the PHI70s."

I assume this "nothing" includes the CAT amps. And if so, that's quite a claim.